3/20: First time in a long time flying out of IAD on a saturday evening. VERY crowded. At gate, the flight was delayed due to "Crew member issues." 15 mins prior to departure, the gate agent gets on the airport intercom and says: "Will the flight attendents working the 5PM flight to Boston please report to gate D1 IMMEDIATELY!" 5 mins. later they show up and rush on the plane. We are loaded, but "due to the delay, we are unable to provide pre-flight drinks." Grrrrr

Had dinner with a bunch of nutcases.

3/21: Couldn't tell you a darn thing about the flight except that it was a nice place to continue to sleep.

Remember we now have a trip report forum (at the bottom of the page).

Ok, ok. I�ve been told (scolded) this trip report is a major disappointment. Apparently, some are more interested in my thoughts about dinner than my drinking habits (as if the two had nothing to do with one another).

From my perspective:

I arrived at the restaurant at 8PM, expecting to be one of the last to arrive. Not seeing any familiar faces, I saddled up to the bar and began drinking black russians. At one point, I walked over to a plant in the corner to ask if it were a baby baobab, but it was not in a talkative mood.

AnnaS found the courage to ask me if I was a flyertalker around 8:15, and we had a very nice conversation. I knew I would recognize njdavid, so I kept an eye on the door. He arrived with his lovely wife and Mark McGuire a few minutes later.. Meanwhile, it turned out that Anna and I were sitting about 4 feet from Premex, Ken and Mr. and Mrs. Tree, who were at a table at the bar. Milecrazy was there too, but I missed which party he arrived with.

We all shared a couple of rounds as our tables were being prepared. We were to be seated at two tables, but consolidated down into one (a cozy but comfortable arrangement). Mr. Tree ordered a lovely wine and we had an absolutely splendid meal. Believe it or not, the topic of travel NEVER even came up .

We shared LOTS of laughs and some great stories. And best of all, no one was a psycho serial killer! Njdavid was presented with an OMNI award that was preceded by one of the most rambling, pathetic attempts as a speech ever (thanks, Rudi !!!)

As for dinner, the clam chowder was excellent, the salmon was good, but the cr�me brule a little disappointing. But the Champagne � THANK YOU -- (and my Graham tawny port) more than made up for it.

As the weary retired for the evening (around midnight, if I recall correctly), the slightly more adventurous went to a bar around the corner called Casablanca. I believe that some of us had a round as others became lost on the way, but I was distracted by my pager, which was going wild (I had been able to ignore it until then). After conducting some business (!!!!) (actually I think I remember Tree telling me that I should have warned them about my �state of mind� before giving political advice, but what the heck.), I rejoined the remaining crew who were immersed in drinks and cuban cigars. I think we were all duly impressed when Baobab taught us the finer points of cigar smoking!

After last call (yes, we closed the place down! And my memories are VERY foggy about this part of the evening�although I THINK I was referring to myself in the third person at that point) many of us shared a cab to our various destinations. I believe a sequel in London was planned (only if merry agrees to choose the restaurant and bars AND attend). Mr. Tree�s invitation to have a night cap at Casa Arbol was SORELY tempting, but alas, I had a flight 7 hours or so later.

Many attendees planned on meeting for brunch the next morning. You�ll have to ask someone else about that, �cause, as Catman would say, I was earning frequent snoring points on my flight home at that point!

All in all, a WONDERFUL and fun experience. My thanks to all of the attendees for the great times. And, as someone said, if the PiP is anything like this, we�ll have a GREAT time (and need some liver transplants)!!!!!

And now some cliquish code for those who attended:
Swim up bars
Naivete scars
72 inch pitch seat sighter
Premex�s case and lighter
Disney stories and beer
�Keep these **** aisles clear� (maybe only Tree remembers that one)
If Matt�s drinking Bailey�s then he must be done
So later this spring, see you in London!

I blame my mis-placed posting on my hangover (oh, the wages of sin...)

Matt...that's MISTER NUTCASE to you!

Great trip report. Actually your OMNI Award speech wasn't quite all that bad. I'm just sorry the folks at the other tables insisted on pelting you with dinner rolls (has the swelling gone down yet?) to get you to shut up. A great big Thank You to everyone who made this a success, but especially to the Ficus Lady, whose charm, wit, and puzzled but understanding husband, insured a memorable evening.

One thing I will add to the dinner report and must confess to, was that we did spend much time talking about many of our fellow FlyerTalkers who were not able to attend. Rudi and Merry...if your ears were burning, it was certainly justified! This is reason alone for not missing future get togethers. One must be present in person to prevent nasty rumors and defend oneself.

As I was one of the attendees at the "Morning After" Sunday Brunch at the Fairmont Hotel, I will give the following brief report: I was the first to arrive at the Oak Room for our reservation. One hitch. They were closed and no evidence of a Brunch. Assuming this hotel was owned by an airline, I made inquiries and located the subsitute venue, the Copley Room. With no sign of my fellow lunchmates, I parked my rear in a 1000 foot seat pitch chair in the Main Salon and was soon joined by Anna. The rest of the gang soon showed up minus Mister Ficus who apparently had some sort of unfavorable reaction to a Cuban cigar the night before. Ahhh...my plan to get the Tree Lady alone was working perfectly (thanks Merry ). We then enjoyed a fantastic and long and leasurely Sunday Brunch while we all tried to remember the night before and get our stories straight. Sadly, the fun came to an end as some had to get home to nurse their sickly husbands, while others had some shopping to do before heading into the skies.

It was really a privilage to meet all of you and thank god there wasn't a loon in the bunch. Hope to see you all at the Party In Paridise (if not sooner).

[This message has been edited by PremEx (edited 03-22-99).]

These are BOTH great trip reports and I would ahve joined you for cigars afterwards but I was running around on 2 hours of sleep and I would have fell asleep at the bar!! But at the P-I-P or earlier, I promise to have the energy to keep up with you party animals!!

We may not have talked about travel because I think we are all more than just travel. (or in my case, cats.) We have very interesting lives and friends and experiences and good hearts and good taste so we could start talking and go on and on and on.

And thank you all for not thinking of me a nut case (even in my beautiful multi patterned cat tie!)

What's this about LONDON???

------------------
CATMAN

Catman: Speak for youself; to some of us, the name nutcases is a compliment!

Rudi: Matt's speech went down very well - he had the sense to wait until we were well into the evening, and (I was sitting beside the NJD's) I was slowly eating my way through a large chocolate dessert... delightful as your Swiss chocolates are, I was unable to partake. Very sly, Matt!

And - thank you for the pretzels Matt, though I am still disappointed that they were not of the mustard variety. Could it be that someone heard - and responded to - your complaints?

PS - PremEx, kyklin, Anna and others with cameras - I'd like a copy of the photos... particularly the cigar ones!!

Hey, that's not very fair to the real nutcases out there .

I make the following additional observations as one of the nutcases...

The Maitre'd at Harvest looked at me as if I was a nutcase when I explained that some of us flew in from around the country just to attend this dinner (the reason why we were NOT going to sit at two tables).

The Hilton clerk looked at me like a nutcase when I asked if I would get double points and miles on the original room amount even though my complaints of a cold shower made the manager cut the room rate in half.

The waiter at our brunch at the Fairmont looked at us all as nutcases when we stayed there from 11:30 till about 3, but stopped eating for at least the last hour.

The President's Club staff must have thought I was a nutcase when I sat in the back of the club and played with the new "Star Trek Communicator" I purchased in one of the shops in the Prudential tower. (Forget the kids, the Star Trek toys are for me.)

And Helen (my wife) can't stop saying about everyone (but mostly Premex, Matt Wald, and Milecrazy), "they really flew all that way just for the dinner/brunch?" She's too kind to even think that we're all nutcases...I think.

Anyway, Helen and I had a wonderful weekend, and feel priviledged to be associated with such a terriffic bunch of nutcases.

I'm sending the pictures to those who were there to be sure they do not mind the posting, so as soon as everyone gives they're ok, I'll let everyone know that they're up.



[This message has been edited by NJDavid (edited 03-22-99).]

A Flyertalk party and Cubans.

I am sooooooooo jealous.

My two cents:

After running around town doing errands (yes, I am a local/townie), I managed to arrive at Harvest around 8:10. Near the entrance and through the glass windows I saw several FTers already gathered (baobab I met previously, some I recognized from NJD's site).

However, I did not immediately go in and join the fun. Last Saturday night was the last day that I can book my 14-day advance tickets to LA. Since I may not be able to call before midnight that night, I figured I have to get this over first. Since I do not want to be one of those loud obnoxious people who uses cell phones inside the restaurant (I am usually just obnoxious).

Therefore, I stood outside for 15 minutes as the reservation agent booked and 1-way upgraded my UA flights, all while watching from the outside in, seeing new (warm) friends drink and get acquainted. At that point I was tempted to give a gentle knock on the glass or a wave to let people know that I am here, but I was afraid I'd set a bad impression or confirm suspicions that some people on the board are indeed real nutcases.

However, it was great meeting everyone as we sat down for dinner. The dinner for me began uneventfully. My appetizer arrived; while the quail was piping hot, the gorgonzola inside the pear was frozen. Soft cheese with ice crystals do not taste good; I had to send it back. Otherwise, the rest of the dinner went fine.

As the dinner was winding down, my future ball-and-chain (currently known as fiancee) tracked me down on my cell phone. Once during the conversation I held the phone up so everyone can say a big HI to her (and thus confirm to her that I am not on a date or something). She was very amused at the whole thing.
---
PremEx: Danielle thought you were very cute. Note: PremEx was sitting to my right and was the closest to the phone. I think PremEx said into the phone "What are you wearing, baby?" Or was that Milecrazy?
----
During the dinner, we reconfirmed the legendary status of Rudi and Merry. We saw pictures of the beautiful children of NJD and Matt (or cats in case of Catman). I was momentarily blinded when everyone took our their elite cards for the photos. The glare from all those shiny platinum, gold, and silver cards!!! The wonderful dinner ended with the surprise champagne courtesy of Traveltoomuch.

The restaurant crew by now must have wondered "Who are these nutcases and can we moved them down to Casablanca?" It was their loss.

At Casablanca, PremEx opened his little yellow carry-on lunch box to showcase his cubanos (thanks PremEx!). Several of us sampled the smooth Romeo y Julieta No. 3; later my cigar-smoker brother later claimed that such a fine thing was wasted on me.

Thanks to everyone for a good evening. Say, where's the next FT convention?

My two cents:

After running around town doing errands (yes, I am a local/townie), I managed to arrive at Harvest around 8:10. Near the entrance and through the glass windows I saw several FTers already gathered (baobab I met previously, some I recognized from NJD's site).

However, I did not immediately go in and join the fun. Last Saturday night was the last day that I can book my 14-day advance tickets to LA. Since I may not be able to call before midnight that night, I figured I have to get this over first. Since I do not want to be one of those loud obnoxious people who uses cell phones inside the restaurant (I am usually just obnoxious) , I stood outside for 15 minutes as the reservation agent booked and 1-way upgraded my UA flights, all while watching from the outside in, seeing new (warm) friends drink and get acquainted.

At one point I was tempted to give a gentle knock on the glass or a wave to let people know that I am here, but I was afraid I'd set a bad impression or confirm suspicions that some people on the board are indeed real nutcases.

However, it was great meeting everyone as we sat down for dinner. The dinner for me began uneventfully. My appetizer arrived-- while the quail was piping hot, the gorgonzola inside the pear was frozen. Eveyrone knows that soft cheese with ice crystals do not taste good. Thus, I had to send it back. Otherwise, the rest of the dinner went fine.

As the dinner was winding down, my future ball-and-chain (currently known as fiancee) tracked me down on my cell phone. Once during the conversation I held the phone up so everyone can say a big HI to her (and thus confirm to her that I am not on a date or something). She was very amused at the whole thing.
---
PremEx, Danielle thought you were very cute. Note to those who were not there: PremEx was sitting to my right and was the closest to the phone. I think what he said into the phone was "What are you wearing, baby?" Or did Milecrazy say that?
----
During the dinner, we reconfirmed the legendary status of Rudi and Merry. We saw pictures of the beautiful children of NJD and Matt (or cats in case of Catman). I was momentarily blinded when everyone took our their elite cards for the photos. The glare from all those shiny platinum, gold, and silver cards!!! The wonderful dinner ended with the surprise champagne courtesy of Traveltoomuch.

The restaurant crew by now must have wondered "Who are these nutcases and can we moved them down to Casablanca?" It was their loss.

At Casablanca, PremEx opened his little yellow carry-on lunch box to showcase his cubanos (thanks PremEx!). Several of us sampled the smooth Romeo y Julieta No. 3; later my cigar-smoker brother later claimed that such a fine thing was wasted on me.

Thanks to everyone for a good evening. Say, where's the next FT convention?

-Ken Lin

[This message has been edited by kyklin (edited 03-22-99).]

[This message has been edited by kyklin (edited 03-22-99).]

MATT: your speech was fine. You did a better job than any babbling I could do. Next time you have to give an OMNI award just pretend you are presenting an Oscar to some beautiful actress (Like Meg or Michelle!)

OMNI: I apologize to all the "real" nutcases out there.

I think everyone is a little "crazy" -- it's the one's who think they are perfectly normal who are the scarey ones to avoid early and often!

CatMan

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[This message has been edited by Catman (edited 03-22-99).]

Did Catman call my name?